Neeraj Chopra - Career, achievements and more as Indian javelin star goes for gold again at 2024 Paris Olympics

The start of the Paris Olympics 2024 is only a few days away and the 26-year-old Indian javelin thrower, Neeraj Chopra is one of the favourite Indian athletes to bring back the medal for the country at the world event.

In this article, The Sporting News looks at Neeraj Chopra's career, his achievements and more importantly, his form ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024.

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Who is Neeraj Chopra?

Born on December 24, 1997, in Khandra, Haryana, Neeraj Chopra made history when as he won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, becoming first Indian (since independence) to win a gold medal in the individual sport event at the Olympics.

Since he struggled with obesity as a child, Chopra's father enrolled him to a gym in Panipat. While playing at the Shivaji stadium in Panipat, he was introduced to javelin throw and his atheltics journey began at the age of 13.

Former Indian javelin thrower, Jaiveer Choudhary recognized his potential and guided him in his journey to become an elite athlete.

Following his impressive performances at the South Asian Games and considering his future potential, the Indian Army took him in as a direct appointment, under the sports quota, as a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Rajputana Rifles with the rank of Naib Subedar.

Neeraj Chopra - Early career

Chopra visited the Panipat Sports Authority of India (SAI) center, where he met his mentor Choudhary, who taught and guided him with the basics of the sport.

He then joined the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula. As Panchkula lacked a specialized javelin coach, he and fellow javelin thrower Parminder Singh downloaded videos of the Czech champion Jan Zelezny and attempted to copy his style.

In 2012, he won a gold medal at the National Junior Athletics Championships in Lucknow, with a national record throw of 68.40 meters.

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His first international event was the World Youth Championships in Ukraine, in 2013. He won his first international medal in 2014, a silver at the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok.

In 2015, Neeraj Chopra finished fifth at the 2015 National Games in Kerala, and received an opportunity to train at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala. 

According to Chopra, his inclusion in the national camp marked a turning point in his career, as he received better facilities, a better quality diet and an improved standard of training from that available at Panchkula. He also said that training with national level javelin throwers boosted his morale.

In a sign of things to come, Chopra became the first Indian to clinch gold at the junior World Championships. The Indian won the men's javelin event at the 2016 World U-20 Championships, held in Poland, with a monster throw of 86.48m, which was a world record at the time. Though his throw was good enough to make the cut, he had missed the qualifying cut-off date for 2016 Rio Olympics by a week.

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Chopra made his debut at the Asian Games in August 2018, and was also the flag-bearer for the Indian contingent during the 2018 Asian Games parade. He won a gold at the event, as he threw a distance of 88.06 m in the Men's javelin throw, bettering his own Indian national record.

He was awarded the Arjuna award in 2018 as well.

Neeraj Chopra - recovery from injury

Neeraj Chopra suffered an injury to his right elbow in 2019, for which he underwent a surgery in Mumbai and had to miss the World Championships that year. 

He trained with guidance from his new German coach Uwe Hohn, biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz and physiotherapist Ishaan Marwaha. All of him helped him to improve his throwing technique, to avoid future injuries.

After being out of the game recovering from injury for 16 months, Chopra returned to compete at the international level in early 2020 at the Athletics Central North West League Meeting in Potchefstroom, South Africa, where he won the competition with throw of 87.86 meters, which also saw him secure qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

How Neeraj Chopra clinched historic gold medal at Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics was postponed to the year 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic, during which time he continued to train at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala. He also attended a training camp at the Kalinga Stadium in Odisha, from late 2020 until February 2021. He was ranked third in the world at that time.

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In June 2021, he travelled to Portugal for the "Meeting Cidade de Lisboa" event, where he won a gold medal, with a throw of 83.18 meters. 

Two months later, in August 2021, he made his debut at the grand Olympics event at Tokyo. where his best throw of 87.58 m in his second attempt, as he finished first in the event and won a gold medal representing India.

In the process, he became the first Indian Olympian to win a gold medal in athletics (track and field), post the country's independence in 1947. He is only the second Indian to win a gold medal in individual sport at the Olympics, after Abhinav Bhindra did it in 2008.

Neeraj Chopra - Form ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics

Chopra will defend his title at the Paris 2024 Games and his form ahead of the event is a good sign for the country.

He started his 2024 season in May with a second-place finish with an impressive final attempt throw of 88.36m at the Doha Diamond League.

He fell short by 2 centimeters behind champion Jakub Vadlejch, from Czech Republic, who had beaten Chopra in last year's Zurich Diamond League by a small margin as well and was also the silver medalist at the Tokyo 2020 games. He will be Chopra's biggest challenge in the upcoming Olympics as well.

On June 18, 2024, Neeraj Chopra took part in the Paavo Nurmi Games, where recorded the best throw of 85.97m to take the top spot.

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Following this win, he trained in Germany and Turkey, before skipping the Paris Diamond League, in order to prepare and manage his workload ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

List of major achievements of Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra

Here is a list of medals won by Indian javelin throw athlete, Neeraj Chopra in major competitions of his career so far:

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